New Beginnings
by ClaireyL
Summary: New planet, new beginning. But will Major Lorne start to regret adding a new member to his team? And will she succeed in setting him up with her friend? Read on to find out. Takes place during season 4, so minor spoilers for anything that's been aired
1. Introductions

"Are you telling me that if I turned up at your door completely pissed, you'd take me back to my quarters and tuck me into bed?"

Kara Hopkins had one eyebrow raised and was looking at Chuck sceptically.

"Well…stand up. Let me get a good look at you," he replied.

She stood and turned in a circles, ignoring the snickers coming from her left as her friend, and Chuck's Gateroom co-worker Alex, tried her best not to laugh at the scene before her. As she finished her twirl, Kara placed her hands on her hips and cocked one eyebrow.

"No, still wouldn't," Chuck replied, turning back to his console.

"You have been on Atlantis with no sex for over three years and you would turn this," she indicated to her body, "down?"

Chuck laughed. "I might be desperate, but I also like my body exactly as it is, intact and unbroken. If I did _anything_ with you, Lorne would make sure they never found the body,"

Alex choked down another giggle and added, "He does seem to see you as something of a little sister,"

Kara rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure if it's a gift or a curse,"

"He just a bit protective," Alex protested.

"M6X-534. I get leered at once, just once by some guy who isn't really important and the next thing I know we running for the gate because Lorne points a gun in his face,"

"So maybe he's very protective, but-"

"No. No ifs, no buts. I have to accept that fact that while Lorne and I are both here, I'm not getting any action,"

"Kara," came the call from the Gateroom below.

"Speak of the devil," Kara said, walking to collect her gear that she'd dropped by the door to the control room when she'd arrived ten minutes earlier. She was about to leave when she spun and said, "Ali, girls night tonight. You all set?"

"I bring the chocolate and the film, I know," Alex replied.

"Sometime today Captain," Lorne called from below.

Kara rolled her eyes and descended the stair to find her team assembled and ready for departure. "Relax Major, we still have thirty seconds," she said consulting her watch, "until we're supposed to leave. Keep this up you'll give yourself a stroke you know,"

"I should write you up for insubordination," Lorne told her, ignoring the other two members of his team who were covering smiles by looking at the floor.

"And yet, you're not going to,"

"One day I will you know,"

"Of course you will, and one day I will get married and have kids, but that day is not today and it's not even going to be tomorrow, it's going to be some time in the very distant future,"

Lorne sighed and looked up to the walkway that connected the control room to Colonel Carters office. She was watching them, an amused look on her face.

"Dial it up," she called to Chuck.

The team moved out of the way as the stargate activated and stabilised.

"Good luck Major, I'll see you in a few hours," she called, watching the team do their final checks before leaving.

Kara looked up to the control room balcony to see Alex watching her. She blew her friends an exaggerated kiss and Alex pretended to catch it and press it to her cheek. Miles and Conner stepped through the gate first, Lorne and Kara not far behind. "When are you going to stop doing that?" he asked just before they stepped through.

"When you finally ask her out?" was the reply, voiced just as they stepped over the event horizon and were demolecularised and pulled across space to a planet a few hundred light years away.

Kara had first met Alex when she'd been assigned to the Apollo for its first mission to Pegasus galaxy. She'd been working with the stargate program for nearly four years in one way or another, from being a liaison with the Tok'ra for six months, two years as part of two different SG teams, another six months in 302 flight training and the last year moving between Odyssey, Dedalus and Apollo depending on which ship needed pilots.

She liked Apollo, Colonel Ellis was nice, but she'd spent the most time on Odyssey and still found it hard to walk onto a bridge that was the same as the Odyssey but had a different captain.

She'd been part of the ground crew that had been left on Atlantis when the Apollo had left the nuke the replicator shipyards. Finding herself bored she'd ended up in the mess hall and struck up a conversation with Alex. When her lunch break had finished, she invited Kara back to the control room so they could continue their talk until the Apollo returned.

Kara had been pleasantly surprised to find Chuck there. She'd met him when she'd worked as part of SG-9 and he'd been assigned to the SGC as a technician. By the time that Apollo returned, Kara knew how Alex, a Brit, had come to be on Atlantis (she was an expert in Ancient language and so often had to translate what things meant in the control room) that she had one older sister and that her hair was actually naturally blonde but after one too many jokes from Chuck she'd dyed it to its current mahogany brown.

Kara had reciprocated the information with some of her own, she'd joined the air force at eighteen and been taken under the wing of a General Landry (now in charge of the SGC) and quickly been inducted into the officers programme, she had no siblings that she knew of (she'd been in foster care most of her life) and her red hair was as natural as it came.

It was only later, as they helped to clean up the wreckage caused when the energy beam hit the city that Alex and Kara really got to know each other, propping each other up, keeping each other going as the ZPM's power ran lower and lower. It was at this point that Kara also found out that she had the ATA gene. She accidentally turned on a life signs scanner that was lying around on one of the controls. And so she been rounded up and herded into a jumper to shoot down asteroids along with some very nervous scientists.

It was only when they talked about it later that the women realised the bond that formed that day. Turns out nearly dying together is a great way to forge a friendship.

It was later, once Atlantis was safely floating on the waters of her new home that Kara had run into Lorne. They'd met briefly while he was at the SCG, working one mission together along with their respective SG teams. He remembered that she'd made him laugh during the dull hours spent on a miserable planet waiting for a Jaffa informant to show up.

He also remembered that, while only being small, was a pretty good fighter and had enjoyed sparring with her when they'd gotten bored to the point of tears. Actually, she'd spared with all the men there and bested most of them. They spent the rest of that night in the gym, Lorne working out his frustrations at the situation, Kara working through the fear that still remained in her mind after the near death experience from earlier that day.

It was after they finally stopped, at about five in the morning when Lorne had said, "Dr Weir's been after me for months to find a forth member for my team. I've been searching through files of SGC personnel but no one seems to jump out at me,"

Kara had met and held his gaze. "It'd been a while since I was assigned to an SG team, but I'll help anyway I can,"

Lorne had cocked his head to one side. "Actually I was thinking about you,"

"I'd kill you within a week," she'd stated.

"Is that a wager?"

She'd sat up from were she'd been lying on her back and propped herself up on her elbows. "If you survive…?"

"You have to stay here and be part of my team permanently,"

"And if you don't?"

"Then you can leave and return to earth,"

"That's hardly incentive,"

"Fine if you win and you end up killing me, I'll make my dying wish to see you promoted to Major and charge of a team of your own,"

"Oh that's a deal," she'd said, shaking hands on it.

And he'd survived, so she'd stayed. Colonel Carter had replaced Dr Weir as head of the expedition and signed the orders for Kara to stay. Kara had slowly been introduced to the other members of the expedition, with Alex inviting her to girls poker night her first official day on Atlantis and Lorne introducing her to Steve Miles and Michael Conner before throwing her into fight training against the marines. To the surprise of everyone she'd held her own against almost all of the military men (losing only to Lorne, Connor, Colonel Sheppard, a marine called Garwin and Ronon and Teyla) and won a substantial amount of chocolate at poker night, which she had then graciously shared with her new friends.

And so, her new life on Atlantis began. Most of it was pretty regular, missions off world to meet new people and set up trade agreements, being pulled out of bed every morning by Lorne for extra training until she could hold her own against everybody but Ronon and Teyla (the latter of the two giving her private lesson to help her improve more) and getting calls every half an hour from McKay or Zelenka asking her to come and try to make some ancient artefact or another work (apparently her ATA gene was almost as strong as Sheppard's). Occasionally there would be a life or death situation, but they survived almost all relatively unscathed.

And so it was that about three months later Kara was going on another mission to another planet in another galaxy and for the first time in her life, actually felt like she was doing something useful.

Life in Pegasus was good, and she just hoped it stayed that way.


	2. Girls Night

Disclaimer: I forgot to do one for the first chapter so here goes, I don't own any of it. Really with I did, but I don't. Just plain' here

AN: You may have realised by now but this fic is going to include two OC's pretty heavily, if you don't like that/them then stop reading cos it's only going to get worse. Also, this is my first fic, so if you read and do like it then please review and say nice things, you never know it might help me to write quicker. If you don't like it, please make any review helpful, ie constructive criticism rather than flames.

Warning: Little bit of drunken talking and the occasional naughty word, again if you don't like bad language, you probably shouldn't read on. If you don't mind, then welcome to my world…

Laughter rang out along the corridors of Atlantis' living quarters, much as it did every other week. The men who lived around Kara Hopkins room had left the area a few hours before and weren't planning on returning until the small hours of the morning when the women that had congregated in Kara's room had left.

It was a routine that had been established long before Kara had arrived on Atlantis; it started as girl's poker night and in the years since had evolved into something more. They still played poker every other week in one of the unused meeting rooms a few floors down from the control room, but when they weren't gambling their chocolate supplies the girls spent a few hours together bonding over movies, alcohol and embarrassing stories about ex-boyfriends.

The film was long over and when Katie Brown had clammed up about her and Dr McKay a game of Truth or Drink had been suggested. The game worked very much like truth or dare except that instead of doing a dare if you refused to answer a question, you had to take a drink of whatever alcohol they had managed to get their hands on. This week, it was a bottle of Zelenka's finest that Alex had managed to win from Dr Winston at a game of chess.

"So Kara," Laura Cadman asked, "If you had to have sex with a man here on Atlantis, who would be the lucky guy?"

Alex and Katie giggled slightly more that they would have normally. Katie had been refusing to talk about her and McKay for the past hour and it was starting to show.

"Are we talking just one night of sex, or do you mean who would I want something serious with? Also, is this real life? Do I have to think about the consequences of sleeping with someone military or-"

"You're still thinking?" Helena Montigues asked, swaying slightly. "This woman hasn't had enough drink. I call mandatory shot,"

"Seconded," giggled Sarah Houseman, a scientist from McKay's department.

"Thirded," cried Katie, shoving the bottle of home-made booze in Kara's general direction.

"We're talking no-holes barred, no strings, no consequences fucking," Laura clarified as she poured a shot into a class for Kara.

"Oh, that's easy," Kara replied taking the shot and throwing it back, wincing as it burned slightly then settled into a fire in her stomach. "Sheppard, every time,"

"Your CO?" Laura asked. "That's kinda kinky. Would you still call him Sir?"

"Hey, you said no strings, no consequences. If that's what we're talking about then it wouldn't

matter if he's my CO," she paused for a second. "And if it meant I could get my hands on that sweet little ass of his, I'd call him anything he wants,"

Jenny Keller shook her head and poured herself a shot, quickly downing it before saying, "If I'm going to face that man in the morning, then I need to drink so much that I forget you said that,"

"Finally the girl gives it up!" Laura called, pouring another shot for Jenny. The good doctor had been reticent to drink, always saying that as head of medicine she had to be clear-headed and sober in case of emergencies. She'd also managed to be very good at diverting attention away from herself when it came to questions.

"So while Jen destroys her liver," Kara turned to Alex. "Same question. Who would you sleep with, no strings, no consequences, go!"

Alex flushed red. She mumbled something and looked at the table.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Katie asked. She was sat practically on top of Alex and was probably the only one of the women that had heard her answer.

Alex sighed and said loud enough for all the women to hear, "Major Lorne,"

Kara couldn't help it. "No, you mean my boss Major Evan Lorne?"

"Yes," Alex replied.

"The US Air Force Major, Evan Lorne?"

"Yes, can we drop it now?"

"For now," Kara said.

Alex whimpered slightly.

"And you Jen?" Laura asked, turning to the doctor who'd just finished her third shot in so many minutes.

"No one," was the reply.

"You have to," Kara told her.

"Come on," Helena asked, her accent thickening with the alcohol. "You must choose a man chica. There is a man here for you, no?"

"We live with some of the most handsome and well defined men on our planet and you don't want to sleep with any of them?" Alex asked.

Jen took another shot and said, "Ronon. I would sleep with Ronon."

Several jaws dropped.

"What?" Jen asked, pouring herself another drink.

"I had never thought of him," Kara said. "And that man is prime A-grade meat,"

"Doesn't have an ounce of fat on him," Jen added, taking the shot. "I had to do his physical a few weeks ago, it was the first time that I was tempted to abuse my position and keep him on that bed with no shirt for as long as I could get away with,"

"Too much information," Kara shouted. "I'm taking these away," she said, removing the bottle and glass from Jen's immediate area.

Laura looked at her watch and pulled herself to her feet saying, "I've got to report for duty at oh-eight-hundred tomorrow so I'm going to get some sleep,"

Laura took Katie with her and Helena and Sarah staggered out a few minutes later, holding each other up. Jen and Alex had Pj's and sleeping bags; the girls all had the next day off and so had planned a late night and sleep over as a sort of bonding exercise.

Alex and Jen had snuggled into their sleeping bags and were sat on Kara's bed, listening to a story about Kara's first boyfriend when the door chime sounded. Kara opened her door with a thought (and the use of the Ancient gene), to see Lorne stood there, still in his uniform.

He took two steps into the room and froze when he realised that Kara wasn't alone.

"I'm sorry, I saw Lieutenant Cadman trying to get Dr Brown back to her quarters a few minutes ago. I assumed that you'd finished…"

"We're having a sleep over," Jen said, sounding much happier than she had in a long time.

"Oh, well then I'll just-" he started to edge towards the door.

"What did you want Major?" Kara asked, cutting off his retreat with her words.

"Dedalus arrived a few hours early, and they've started to upload the supplies. There's something for you, I don't know what, but apparently it's big,"

"Really?" Kara asked, face frowning. "I wonder what? I wasn't aware of anything being shipped out on this run, they brought most of my stuff on the last trip,"

"Like I said, I don't know what it is, but it's down in storage area B if you want to find out?"

Kara jumped out of bed and pulled on a shirt that was lying on her chair. While it covered her to the top of her thighs, covering the small camisole top underneath, it only just covered her panties and left her legs bare.

"Come on guys, I wanna see who's playing secret santa," Kara said, bouncing slightly on her feet.

"It's nowhere near Christmas," Alex complained as she struggled out of her sleeping bag. "It's March, shouldn't it be the Easter bunny?"

"You play secret Easter bunny?" Kara asked then frowned. "That sounded kinda weird,"

"Get rid of the secret, and maybe the playing while you're at it," Jen said, heaping her own sleeping bag on Kara's bed.

"Whatever, I want to see what I've been sent,"

Five minutes and several short arguments later, they arrived at storage room B. While the current occupants of Atlantis didn't know what the room had been used for in the past, it was big enough to hold about a quarter of the supplies brought from the Milky Way by the Dedalus, so Dr Weir had assigned it and four other rooms of similar size to store their food, munitions and anything else that arrived by intergalactic ship.

Kara, in her rush, had refused to get dressed before coming to investigate the mysterious package, and so neither Jen or Alex had been given the chance to either. For Jen this wasn't such a problem; she had proper pyjama's that covered her from neck to toe. Alex on the other hand hated being constricted when she slept, so had worn a sports bra since she'd started university and her mother had stopped trying to dress her. If it was hot, she would wear a pair of shorts, when it was cold she wore cotton yoga pants. Although it wasn't freezing, she'd opted for the yoga pants when stuffing her things into a bag to take to Kara's room that night, and now she wished that she'd grabbed the t-shirt that was lying in her clean laundry pile instead of her usual bra.

Atlantis regulated the temperature pretty well, so the corridors and the storage room weren't particularly cold, but Alex was very aware of the air against her back and stomach. As they'd left Kara's room, she'd crossed her arms over her belly and not taken them away since. She just hoped that Lorne didn't notice the slight blush that stained her cheeks.

Kara, on the other hand was ecstatic. She couldn't have planned it better herself if she'd actually planned on Lorne coming to find her when the other women had left. She'd been scheming for months to try to get Lorne and Alex in the same room with as little clothing as possible and now he'd done it for her. She wasn't sure if Evan had noticed that Alex was blushing slightly (if it had been Kara with her fair skin her face would have been tomato coloured) but she did see him shooting her, and more importantly her boobs, discrete glances when he could.

They entered the room and the three women followed Lorne to the far corner were a big wooden crate was stood. The Dedalus' pilot was staring at his clip board, face screwed up with concentration.

"Davey," Kara said, "Come to make sure I get my present?"

"Kara, I have asked you not to call me that," Dave replied, avoiding the question.

"Sorry _Captain_ I forgot. So is this it?" she asked.

Dave sighed. "Yep, this is your's. General O'Neill told me to give you this before you open it," He handed over a letter with her name on the front.

"General O'Neill?" Lorne asked. He turned on Kara, "What did you do?"

"Nothing! I've barely spoken two words to him before,"

"Then why is he writing you letters?" Lorne asked a little too snarkily for Kara's taste.

"I don't know," she replied with as much snark as she knew she could get away with.

"Well, open the letter and find out," Alex put in.

Kara ripped it open and gave the envelope to Dave who rolled his eyes and fixed it to his clip-board. "Dear Captain Hopkins," Kara began reading aloud. "It is nice to know that, after everything that has happened to the members of the Atlantis expedition in the last few months that someone had retained their sense of humour,"

"Oh god, he didn't," Alex exclaimed.

"Who didn't what?"

Kara nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Colonel Sheppard's voice behind her. She'd been so wrapped up in the note she hadn't heard him come in.

"General O'Neill," Alex said, not really explaining much.

"General O'Neill what?"

"Shh," Kara said impatiently. "We're getting to it." She continued to read from the letter. "It's nice to know that I haven't fed Carter to the wolves by recommending her for the Atlantis job, and that there's still someone to be a bit of a pain in the ass. I hope you find this requisition useful because you're not getting anything else for at least another six months. I plan to make a trip to Pegasus as soon as I know that it is up and running to see if your prediction about using it for team-building exercises is correct. In the mean time, feel free to send any other forms in that you think might require my attention, some days I need a good laugh. Regards, General Jack O'Neill,"

"Oh, god he did, didn't he," Alex mumbled, shrinking into a smaller target.

"He did what? What has General O'Neill done?" Lorne asked, looking as bewildered as Sheppard and Jen.

"You know we were given those form a month or so ago, they were for requisition or any goods or parts that we needed. We all had to fill them out so if we needed more uniforms or special weapons the IOA would get them to us,"

"Of course, they gave us those huge books of codes as well. I spent two days with that book looking up codes for spare parts for P-90's and 9mm,"

"Well, we were bored one night-" Kara started.

"Whose we?" Sheppard asked.

"Me and Alex and Chuck, but I was the one who filled out the form,"

"Filled it out to say what?"

"We looked through it and I came across an item that…well it probably wasn't supposed to be in there,"

"What was it?" Lorne asked.

"A Jukebox," Kara replied.

Lorne, Sheppard, Dave and Jen all looked dumbstruck so Kara continued before they found words again. "It was supposed to be a joke. I mean I didn't think that they'd ship a Jukebox all the way out here. I filled in the form saying that I thought the lack of music was a problem and that a Jukebox to be installed in the Mess would be good for moral. And then I also said that it could be used for team bonding as well if we could work out a way to fix up some microphones and use it for karaoke,"

The silence stretched for a few seconds before Sheppard snapped, "And what makes you think that the Dedalus carrying a Jukebox out here is funny?"

"It wasn't supposed to be shipped. That's the thing, I figured that some clerk that spends all his time sorting through requisition forms for gun parts and spare uniforms would see it and find it funny and then ignore it. Obviously somehow it came to the attention of General O'Neill-

"

"And he decided that it should be sent," Lorne finished.

"Are we sure that's what's in there?" Jen asked.

Kara looked around and asked, "Dave, have you got a crow bar or something to open it up with?"

The captain produced one and gave it to Kara, who immediately had it snatched away from her by Lorne. "What, so I can't open a crate by myself?" she asked.

"No," Lorne replied patiently. "I think that even though you're wearing a shirt, you're technically out of uniform. You crow bar this crate open and you'll probably be even more out of uniform by the time you finish,"

Kara glared at him then took a step back. "Fine, but if I were properly dressed Jen would have to surgically remove that crow bar from your skull,"

Sheppard frowned when Lorne simply smiled at Kara and started to attack the box. "You can't speak to a superior officer like that," he said, his voice wavering between outrage and

humour.

"Correction, I'm not _supposed_ to talk to a superior officer like that. I do it anyway. Besides," she went on, "I'm just gonna give him bruises in training tomorrow instead. More permanent and less likely to get me a court-marshal,"

Lorne finally managed to get the top of the box and Kara decided to take a look rather than wait to see what Sheppard would say to her disobedience. "That is definitely a jukebox," she proclaimed, standing on her tip-toes to see inside the box. She hadn't realised that the stretching had caused the shirt to ride up over her ass, giving Dave and Sheppard a good view of her panties before she took a step back.

"What the hell are we going to do with it?" she asked no-one in particular.

AN2: Like I said at the top, if you like please send me pretty messages, if you didn't tell me why, but nicely if you please.


	3. Intervention

Disclaimer: Not me, not mine.

Warning: Little bit of naughtyness but nothing explicit.

The next morning Kara left Jen and Alex to sleep in and went to find Colonel Carter. She found her in her office with her morning cup of coffee, freshly brewed from the replenished stocks, and a report from her teams mission the day before.

"Colonel, I don't know if you know yet, but-"

"Some kind of package arrived on the Dedalus for you?" the Colonel asked.

"I can explain," Kara began, and she did. She even brought General O'Neill letter with her and let the Colonel read it while she told her story.

"I'm really sorry Colonel, if I'd of known that it would have gone this far up the chain of command-"

"It's not your fault, Captain,"

"But Ma'am,"

"Kara, you couldn't have known that General O'Neill would do this," Carter told her kindly. "The only thing I want to know is why Doctor Keller and Miss Owen were with you and why you were all in pyjama's?" Kara must have looked confused because Carter added, "I saw Colonel Sheppard this morning in the mess and he told me what happened,"

"We all have most of the day off so we thought we'd have a sleep over," Carter's eyebrows rose. "It can be stressful living here and we don't get much time to be girls, especially not me. I have to go off world and get shot at and beaten up everyday by marines. We thought it would be nice to spend our down time together telling stories and painting each others toe nails,"

"Sounds like fun," Carter said, handing back the letter.

"Has anyone asked you to join us for girls night?" Kara asked before she had a chance to think.

"Excuse me?" Carter asked.

_In for a penny and all that_, Kara thought. "Every Tuesday night we have a girls night. That is me and Jen, Alex, Katie Brown, Laura Cadman, Sarah Houseman and Helena Montigues. We alternate between poker and a movie and then we tend to drink and gossip and tell embarrassing stories. It's kind of a bonding thing,"

"Uh, no. No one mentioned it," Carter said.

"Well, maybe you should join us," Kara went on. "I mean, we tend to leave rank at the door. Everyone's equal in that room, so you can shout and call each other names and when you get back on duty, you forget that it happened,"

Carter smiled. "That sounds really nice. Count me in next week,"

"It would be good to see you there Colonel. Now if you don't mind, I have four hours before the Marines get me and I want a pedicure,"

"You're dismissed Captain," Carter said, going back to her reports as Kara left and made her way back to her room. It would be good to see Carter unwind a little. Kara had sort of known her back at the SGC (as much as anyone could know a member of SG-1) and she'd seemed nice. It was the one thing that she didn't like about Atlantis, the social structure was rigid and there was little room for movement. Carter was the leader of the expedition, and as such she couldn't interact much with those below her in rank, not socially anyway. Back on earth she could have socialised with friends outside of work, but in Pegasus, it was all work all the time.

She just hoped that Carter got the chance to relax, before she imploded under the weight of responsibility.

"You should just ask her out. She'd say yes,"

Evan Lorne sighed. Once Kara got the bit between her teeth it was almost impossible to make her let go, and tonight she was fixated on him and Alex Owens.

"I'm not going to ask her out," he said as he took a swig of the beer he held in his hand and gazed out across the ocean.

"Why not? You like her she likes you, I really don't see the problem here,"

"Well, you wouldn't," he replied.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Kara asked, sitting up to look at her CO.

Evan sighed. "Look, just because two people may happen to like each other is not a good reason to date. I mean, we live on a base in the middle of nowhere with a limited population. What happens if it doesn't work out between us and we have a messy break-up? I can't avoid the gateroom for the rest of my life. The only answer would be for one of us to transfer and I don't want that,"

"But you wouldn't have a messy break-up," Kara persisted. "I know both of you and I think you'd be perfect together,"

Evan was struggling to put his feelings into words that Kara would understand and except. "Fine, so we go out a few times and we find that we like each other. What then?"

"Please don't tell me I'm going to have to give you the sex talk," Kara mono-toned.

"I meant after the sex," Evan said patiently. "What happens if we get serious?"

"Then you get serious," Kara replied.

"And if one of us gets transferred?" he asked. "Or if something should happen to one of us? I mean it's not like we live everyday lives with normal harm-free jobs,"

"Even if you where both on earth and even if you didn't both work for the SGC, you could drop dead any time. Hundreds of people are killed everyday crossing the street. Yeah, so your job puts you in more danger than most, but isn't that a reason to live your life to the full? Maybe Alex is the girl for you and maybe she's not, but if you're going to refuse to even consider dating anyone on Atlantis then you're going to be waiting a long time to find Ms. Wright,"

Evan leant back into the deck chair that he was sitting in. Kara had a pretty good point, unfortunately.

"And hey, if one of you gets transferred you could just get married and then protest the move," Kara said.

Evan had been taking a sip of beer and started to choke on it. Kara smiled and pounded her CO on the back.

After he managed to get the coughing under control he glared at her. "You're cruel," he told her.

"You mean you don't want to marry Alex?" she asked innocently.

"How about I date her first, then decide if I want to marry her," Evan retorted.

"So you mean you're going to ask her out?" Kara wanted to know.

"After your little speech about dying when I cross the street I figured I might as well give it a try,"

"So where are you going to take her?"

"I've just decided that I'm actually going to ask the girl out, give me some time before you start to pester me for specifics. Besides, she hasn't said yes yet,"

"Oh, she will," Kara told him as she laid back down onto her towel and watched the sun set off the west pier. "You could bring her here?" she suggested.

"Oh, but honey this is our place," Evan said with sarcasm dripping from every syllable.

She waved her hand at him. "I'll let you share it, after all it is for a good cause,"

"You should be glad that we're having this conversation _after_ training and not before," Evan said, the threat clear in his voice.

"Or what? You'll set Garwin on me again?"

An hour later when the light had fully vanished from the horizon, the pair packed up their things and made their way back into the city at a leisurely pace.

As they approached Kara's quarters Evan asked, "So, have you enjoyed your day off?"

"Loved it!" Kara exclaimed. "Shame I only get one,"

"Hey, we're under staffed to the point of stupidity. You're lucky you got a whole day off,"

"Do we know when the new troops might arrive?" Kara asked.

"The replacements should be here in a week or so, but as for more than that," he shrugged. "Colonel Carter has asked for two new teams to be sent out and ten more soldiers for city security, but she thinks we'll be lucky if we get half of that,"

"I suppose that's one perk of having Atlantis under the control of a military leader, she's not afraid of asking for extra personnel,"

"Dr Weir wasn't exactly afraid of asking for extra people, but I think with Carter in charge we stand a better chance of getting them,"

"Maybe I should send a requisition off for extra guys," Kara suggested. When Evan scowled at her she added, "Hey, it worked last time. I can't hurt to try can it?"

"Kara?"

They'd just rounded the corner by Kara's room and the mention of her name pulled Kara's attention away from Lorne and to the person sat by her door.

"Alex? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I forgot my toothbrush," Alex admitted as she stood up. "I figured you had to come back eventually,"

"You should have commed me," Kara said.

"I tried," Alex told her. "I think you'll find that it's sat somewhere in there," her friend indicated to the closed door.

Kara smacked herself on the forehead as she activated the doors to open and turned on the lights in her room. "I'm so sorry," she apologised to her friend.

Alex and Evan followed her into her room, Alex walking over to the bathroom to pick up her toothbrush that she'd left behind earlier in the day. Kara dropped her bag with her things in on her bed and then turned to her CO.

"Shipping out at 0900 tomorrow?" she asked.

"Bright and early," he replied. "The kids on M7G-677 are pretty friendly as far as Pegasus inhabitants go. I'll warn you now that Zelenka doesn't like them,"

"I heard him in the mess hall complaining that it's always him that has to go and check the EM field generator," Kara smiled. "Something about his nephew always breaking things as well,"

Evan glanced over Kara's shoulder and saw Alex emerging from the bathroom and hastily said, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," before trying to escape the room. Problem was that Kara saw the glance and decided that it was time Evan stopped running.

"Wait," she called and ran over to the door as he was about to exit. "I think you two have some things to discuss," she said as she pushed Evan back into the room before activating the doors to close and lock.

Kara swung by the mess hall to grab two cups of coffee and a few slices of chocolate brownie before heading to the control room. Chuck had the night shift and she often visited him when she couldn't sleep, generally with much needed caffeine and sugar in the form of coffee and cakes.

Chuck greeted her with enthusiasm as he took one of the cups of coffee from her hand and grabbed a piece of brownie from the plate. "I thought you'd be avoiding us at all costs," Chuck told her as she flopped into one of the spare seats.

"Because it's my day off?" she asked.

Chuck simply nodded as he tucked into the brownie and tried not to spill coffee on the console.

"Normally I would, but I'm staging an intervention at the moment so my room is in use,"

Chuck stopped eating and looked at her suspiciously. "What did you do?" he asked.

"Nothing I won't be thanked for later," she told him.

"Kara," he said warningly.

"It's nothing," she said. "I promise," she continued when he continued to look suspicious.

"That's what you said when you tied Gerrity up in the jumper in his underwear," Chuck told her calmly.

"And the worst thing that came of that was two weeks KP duty," she replied. Deciding to change the topic she asked him, "I've decided what my next requisition form for General O'Neill is going to be for. Want to help me fill it out,"

Chuck rolled his eyes and moved on. Generally the things Kara did worked out, and if they didn't she always took the punishment she was handed without complaint. It was one of her major sticking points when it came to her life; she handled the consequences of her actions.

"I'll find the form,"

Alex couldn't believe what Kara had just done. She knew how she felt about Lorne and still she smiled as she locked them in her room together. She could already feel the blood rushing to her face as Lorne yelled through the doors for Kara to let them out.

She sighed and said, "She's already left you know,"

Lorne's shoulder dropped and he turned to lean on the doors. "I know," he told her.

Now that he was looking at her, Alex's insecurities kicked in and she found herself looking at her shoes, the floor, Kara's desk… anything that wasn't Lorne basically. She soon realised that neither of them were talking and was wandering what to say to break the silence when her eyes, which were moving from looking at a picture of Kara and some of her friends from back on earth and Kara's dirty laundry basket, locked onto Lorne's.

She held his gaze for a few seconds before she dropped her eyes back to the floor and she felt she cheeks flush again. Had he been looking at her? Or had they just managed to look at each other at the same. And good lord in heaven, what had possessed Kara to lock them in a small room together?

Evan found himself fascinated with Alex. When he'd stopped yelling at Kara through the door and turned he found that his eyes were inexplicably drawn to the small women who was looking everywhere but at him. Then their eyes locked, just for a few seconds, and he knew that Kara had been right about her.

This girl was something special. He thought back to all the times that he'd seen her, either with Chuck or Kara, with other members of the expedition or just by herself. She was always smiling, like she was constantly happy. And she laughed a lot too. He liked her laugh, he remembered.

Then she looked away from him and blushed, like she'd been caught doing something wrong. She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and he wondered if she knew that it was a nervous habit she had. He'd seen her do it before when she was under pressure in the control room and time was running out.

But that blush! It was the sweetest thing he'd even seen.

"So, you're going on a mission tomorrow?" she asked him, not quite meeting his eye.

"Yeah, the kids of M7G-677 need their generator checking over again,"

"It's been twitchy ever since McKay played with the power settings to get some more energy out of it," she told him, still looking everywhere but at him.

"He probably did something to it just so that he'd had a reason to send Zelenka to check it every few months," Lorne suggested.

Alex laughed. "You know I wouldn't put it past him. You should have heard Zelenka in the mess hall today. 'Children always break things'," she said, doing her best to mimic Zelenka's Czech accent.

"They're good kids. Well most of them anyway," he amended, remembering the last time he'd been to see the kids. One of them had ransacked the jumper looking for anything resembling chocolate. Ford had a lot to answer for when it came to those kids and candy. "Have you even been off world?" he asked.

"Not yet," she said, moving to sit on the bed. "My talents haven't been needed in the field here in Pegasus. I did go to a planet back home once though,"

"Yeah,"

"Yeah. There were some ruins that had some ancient writing in them and I was called to decipher them. Nearly got killed while I was there," she told him.

What happened?" he asked.

"Jaffa patrol caught us. We had to be hauled out by three SG teams and I got shot in the shoulder for my pains,"

"You where hit by a staff blast?"

"No. Friendly fire," she admitted. "I ran into the line of fire of one of our marines,"

"I bet he was happy with you," Lorne said smiling.

"He spend the next two months apologising and carrying things for me," she replied, returning his smile and looking straight at him for the first time in five minutes. It only lasted a few moments until she realised what she was doing and her gaze dropped to her feet again.

Evan was surprised by how shy she was. He'd seen her interact with Kara and Chuck and she seemed confident with both of them, but now she looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. Slowly, so as not to push her away, he came and sat down on the bed next to her.

He found that when she was talking she tended to forget where she was, so he continued to ask her questions. "You've been here since the beginning right?" she looked up and nodded before returning her gaze to her lap. "What made you decide to come here?"

"There are about ten people on earth who can understand Ancient to such a degree that they can cope with most translations," she explained. "Two work for the University of London in conjunction with the British Museum. Another two work at universities in the US and co-ordinate with museums and archaeological dig world wide. Three work at Area 51 to help the scientists there with any spot translations that may be needed on ancient artefacts and before the Atlantis expedition three of us worked at the SGC. General O'Neill wouldn't let Dr Jackson volunteer and Dr Rigby has a husband and daughter. I was the obvious choice for the assignment,"

"So you where assigned here?" Lorne asked.

"Well when you say it like that it sounds like I was forced," she said teasingly and Lorne found now it was his turn to look flustered. "I volunteered just like everyone else that came to Pegasus. If I hadn't wanted to come they would have found someone else to take my place,"

Alex looked at Lorne and their eyes locked again, but this time Alex found that she didn't want to look away. Eventually she broke the contact and said, "I'm really sorry about Kara,"

Evan was shocked. "Why?" he blurted out before he could stop himself.

"I know why she locked us in here," Alex confessed. "It's because of me-"

"No," Evan interrupted her before she could continue. "It's not because of you,"

"Yes, it is. You see-"

Evan put a finger to her lips to cut her off mid-sentence. "It's not you," he told her. "Well actually is sorta is, but it's not just you,"

Alex looked puzzled so he continued. "I told Kara something earlier and she knows I have a tendency to back out of decisions if I think about them too much so she locked us in here to force my hand, so to speak,"

Alex still looked confused. _Now or never_, he thought as he took one of Alex's hand. "I was wondering if you wanted to do something sometime?" he asked.

"You mean like a date?" Alex asked, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest.

"Just like a date," he replied.

She swallowed and nodded. "I'd like that,"

Evan smiled and squeezed her hand slightly. She blushed and looked away again.

He let go of her hand and asked, "Do you think Kara will be back any time soon?"

Alex looked at her watch and shook her head. "Chuck's got the night shift. She's probably gone to see him. It could be a while,"

"Any idea's of what we could do until she comes back?"

Words from the night before flew across her mind and she remembered Kara asking her who she would sleep with if she had the chance and Laura's clarification of exactly what 'sleep with' meant. She felt her face flush as suddenly many images, mainly fantasies, started to parade themselves around her head.

Evan saw the colour flood Alex's face and suddenly wondered what she was thinking. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She took a deep breath and tried her best to banish all thoughts of nakedness from her mind before replying, "I was just thinking about something that Kara and Laura said last night,"

"What?" he asked, before his brain could tell him that maybe he didn't want to know what the women of this base were saying to each other.

Alex couldn't believe he'd just asked her that. She was doing her best not to think about all the things they could be doing together on the very bed that they were currently sat on and he was asking for clarification?

_Fuck it_, Alex thought and leaned across the few centimetres that separated them and pressed her lips to his.

Evan was slightly surprised when she leaned in and kissed him. She's spent the last half an hour blushing when she so much as looked at him, and now she was kissing him.

She pulled away slightly, still trying to work out where her common sense had gone. "I- " she started but was cut off when Evan grabbed her and pulled her closer, kissing her more forcefully.

One of her hands found its way to the back of his head to play with the hair at the base of his skull while the other one came to rest on his arm. She could feel his hands, one tangling into her hair to cradle her skull while the other one pulled her even closer.

Alex moaned when Evan started to rub his thumb along the exposed skin at the base of her spine and tilted her head to deepen the kiss further. When they finally broke the kiss Alex continued to kiss her way along his jaw, the stubble scratching at her smooth skin until she found her way to his neck.

"I thought you were supposed to be sweet and quiet," Evan managed to say.

"You know what they say about the quiet ones," Alex replied pulling back from his neck to look at him again.

He smiled and kissed her again, leaning her back until she was laid on the bed, his hands going to her waist underneath her shirt. Her hands moved to his shoulder and behind his back, pulling him down on top of her.

Kara hadn't been sure what to expect when she unlocked and opened the door to her room. Shouting probably, blushing almost definitely, smiling maybe, but kissing… no that was not on the list.

So she was quite shocked to open the door to find her friend and her CO making out like teenagers on her bed. Her jaw dropped open and it took her a few moments before she regained the ability to speak.

"What the hell?" she yelled as she stepped into the room. Lorne and Alex stopped kissing and turned to look at her from their position on the bed. "I wanted you to ask her out, not grope her," she told Lorne.

"That would be my fault," Alex said, pushing lightly on Lorne's chest and sitting upright.

"You?" Kara asked.

"I started the kissing, completely my fault," she reiterated.

Kara couldn't speak. Her mouth was hung open and she was staring at the pair of them like she never seen them before.

"Do you think she'd okay?" Alex asked Lorne quietly.

"I don't know," Lorne replied. "I don't think I've ever seen her speechless before,"

That seemed to snap Kara out of her daze. "Out!" she ordered. "Out, out, out,"

They stood up to leave when Kara continued "No, not you," she said pointing to Alex. "We need to have a chat,"

Lorne hesitated for a moment. "I'll be fine," Alex reassured him.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Go," she said, pushing him slightly towards the door.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he left.

"See you tomorrow," she replied.

Kara waited for the doors to close before she turned to stare at Alex. "What the hell?" she asked.

Alex sighed and patted the bed beside her. It was going to be a long night.

AN: Probably bored of me saying it, but if you like, reviews are very nice…


	4. The Date

Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately.

"So, do you need any help sorting out for tonight?" Kara asked.

The mission to M7G-677, or Kid Central as Kara had started to call it, had gone well. Zelenka had monitored the field generator for about an hour before fine tuning some of the systems and announcing that he was done. Miles and Connor had stood guard while Lorne and Kara had gone to meet with Keras and the other elders to see how they were doing.

It hadn't been long before Kara had been distracted by a young woman and her baby who were seated a few meters from the circle of elders. Soon Kara had been introduced not only to the woman and her child, but also to five or so other new mothers and their respective babies. The call to return to the jumper had come all too soon for Kara, and she'd left promising to return as soon as she could.

This led to the present moment and Kara's question. They were in the jumper heading back to the gate and Lorne's date with Alex was looming.

"I've got it covered," he told her calmly as he retracted the drive pods for their trip through the gate.

"Are you sure?" Kara asked. "I know Alex pretty well if you want any hints of tips,"

"I said I'd got it covered, Captain," Lorne replied, his use of her rank cutting off any further comment.

Kara was quiet until Lorne had parked the jumper in its bay above the gateroom. "So where are you taking her?"

"It's a surprise," Lorne told her, his patience running thin.

"You can tell me," Kara insisted. "I won't tell."

"I have no doubt," he said, powering down the jumpers systems and standing up as Zelenka opened the rear hatch and left, muttering to himself in Czech.

"So where are you going?" Kara asked again.

Lorne spun and had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying something he'd regret. "I'm not going to tell you where we're going," he told her then turned away from her and exited the jumper.

"Why not?" she asked indignantly.

Lorne spun around again and said, "Because I have the sneaking suspicion that if I told you, you'd follow us."

He turned again and made his way over to where Colonel Sheppard was waiting for him.

"How'd it go?" the colonel asked.

"Fine sir," Lorne replied. "Keras says their harvest for this season isn't looking good, so any spare food that can be sent their way would be helpful and he'd also like someone from the infirmary to go and check-up on a few of the pregnant women. They've been having some problems since we last visited and they've lost five babies and two women in the past three months."

"The food shouldn't be a problem," Sheppard told them. "But the doctor might be a bit trickier. Anyone who leaves has to have a security detail with them and at the moment we need all hands to deal with the replicators and the wraith."

"I'll volunteer," Kara said. "I told some of the women from Keras' village that I'd come back as soon as I could."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Sheppard warned.

Lorne saw his chance to escape and moved as quietly as he could out of the bay and back to his room. He was pretty much set for his date with Alex, but their early return gave him a chance to go and bug the kitchen staff for the last few bits he wanted and still have plenty of time to get ready afterwards.

Sheppard noticed that Lorne snuck out of the bay as Hopkins started to discuss the possibility of going to visit Keras' people on a regular basis. He wasn't sure what the Major was up to, but he had noticed one of the women in the gateroom watching him as he'd gotten ready to leave earlier, and that his normally chatty relationship with Hopkins had been slightly cold.

Well, if something was going on between Lorne and a member of the science team it would likely be all over the base by the end of the week thanks to the well used gossip channels. Turning his attention back to Hopkins, Sheppard tried his best to dissuade her from making a trip to see her new friends every week.

A couple of people had commented that Alex seem happier than normal today. If was only after Chuck had commented that she constantly had a stupid grin on her face that she'd made a conscious effort to get herself under control.

As Kara and Evan had left for their mission that morning she smiled at him and he'd smiled back, making her heart beat faster and her mind wish that it was already evening. She didn't know exactly what they were going to do, but she's received an email from Evan when she'd logged in to the cities network that morning as she started her days work.

He said that he was going to pick her up from her room at seven o'clock that night and that she was to wear something comfortable. She'd been going through possibilities all day as to where he might be taking her, each more fanciful that the next.

When the gate kawooshed into life she thought that she'd lost track of time, only to find that Evan and Kara had returned early. She glimpsed Evan use the back stairs to leave the jumper bay, and was slightly disappointed when he didn't look up at her as he passed the control room. She quickly chided herself for thinking such foolish things. What had she been expecting, that he would greet her with a passionate kiss in the middle of the control room?

She went back to her translation until she heard Kara drop into the seat next to her about five minutes later. "Did you have a nice time?" she asked, not looking up from her work.

"I suppose," her friend replied vaguely.

"What, no exciting story today?" Chuck asked.

"Oh, the mission was fine. I made some new friends with the women in the village we visited," she told him.

"So what's the problem?" Alex asked, still looking at her computer screen.

"Your boyfriend is the problem," Kara replied.

Alex's eyes swung from her computer to Kara and then to Chuck who was suddenly extremely interested in the conversation.

"Your boyfriend?" he asked. "Since when do you have boyfriend?"

"She means Lorne, and he is not my boyfriend," she insisted, trying to calm the situation before Chuck and Kara escalated it into something big.

Kara laughed and said, "After what I saw you two doing last night he better be your boyfriend."

Chuck's mouth dropped open and his gaze started to flick from Alex, who would probably give him the most accurate information, and Kara, who would give him more information. "What were you doing last night?" he asked.

"Nothing," Alex replied as she turned back to her work, hoping that by taking herself out of the conversation if might stop.

"He had his tongue down your throat," Kara told her.

"Okay, too far!" Alex snapped. "I know you like teasing me, but this is my business and I thought it'd be nice for a change to keep it quiet."

Kara looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry," she apologised. "It's just...Lorne won't tell me anything about what you're doing tonight."

"Are you really surprised?" Alex asked incredulously.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well after the way you reacted when you found us last night, I wouldn't put it past you to try to chaperone us for the entire evening," Alex told her.

Kara was silent for a minute, thinking through what she would have done if Lorne had told her where he was taking Alex. She probably would have followed them, now that she really thought about it. "I'm not trying to pry," Kara said eventually.

"I know, but you are, whether you mean to or not."

"I'm sorry. I should trust you more," Kara said, looking down at her hands again.

"Yes, you should," Alex agreed. "But thank you for trying to protect me, even if I don't need it. It's nice to know someone cares."

Kara eventually smiled and stood up. "I should go get rid on my stuff," she said, indicating her off-world gear that she still had with her. As she moved off she yelled back to Alex, "Thanks for trying to make me less annoying."

"Hey, what are friends for," Alex shouted after Kara.

Smiling, Alex returned to her work, only to look up a few moments later to see Chuck smiling at her. "So," he said, "You and Lorne?"

Alex looked at her reflection nervously in the mirror and checked her watch again. It was five to seven and the butterflies in her stomach were multiplying by the minute. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and looked back at her watch again.

Realising what she was doing she laughed at herself and moved to clean up the mess she'd made trying to decide what to wear for the evening. She was halfway through putting a dress back on a hanger when the door chime sounded and she froze. She took a deep breath, checked her reflection once more in the mirror and then activated the door.

She smiled as the door swished open to reveal Evan waiting outside. "Hey," she said clasping her hands lightly behind her back so he couldn't see that she was fidgeting nervously.

"Hi," he said, smiling back at her. He pulled something out from behind his back and Alex gasped as she recognised it as a calla lily.

She bit her lip lightly as she took the flower from his hand and ran a finger down one of the petals. "It's my favourite," she told him as she turned to find something to put it in.

"Yeah, I know," he replied. "I coerced Dr Brown into telling me which flower you liked best from all the ones they grow in the botany lab."

"Remind me to thank her," she said as she pulled some old flowers out of the only vase she had in the room and dropping the single stem in to replace them.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her.

"As long as this is suitable," she replied, twirling to show him the dress she'd finally chosen after an hour of trying on everything she'd brought with her from Earth.

Evan swallowed before replying, "You look lovely."

The dress was a navy blue cotton halter neck that fell to just above her knees. She'd tied a brown leather belt so that it hung loosely around her hips and managed to find her pair of brown leather boots that she swore she'd lost last year to finish off the outfit.

"Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself," she flirted. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a black button down shirt with the first two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to the elbow.

"Shall we?" he asked holding out his arm for her.

She took it and allowed herself to be lead to the nearest transporter. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?" she asked.

"It's a surprise," he told her as they stepped into the transporter and he selected their destination from the map on the wall behind Alex's head. The white light flashed over them and the door open onto an unfamiliar corridor.

Evan pulled her out of the transporter and along a maze of corridors which all looked the same to Alex. She tried to look out of any windows she could find but didn't see much more than blue sky, grey buildings and occasionally some blue sea. Ten minutes later they reached the end of a corridor and Evan stopped before a set of doors.

"Close your eyes," he told her.

She raised an eyebrow but complied. She heard the door open and felt a slightly breeze rush past her, moving her dress and blowing her hair back off of her face. Evans hands touched her waist and shoulder, guiding her forward through the doors and outside.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" she asked.

"Not quite yet," he whispered close to her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

She took a few more steps forward until Evan stopped her and moved to stand behind her. "Okay, you can open them," he told her.

"Are you sure?" Alex asked him, smiling.

"I'm sure," he told her, the humour clear in his voice.

Alex opened her eyes and gasped. "Oh my," she said staring at the view before her. They must have been somewhere in the eastern part of the city on a balcony that looked back on the city. The sun was just starting to set, throwing the city into a riot of colours as the sky started to turn pink.

Once she got over the awe she felt for the view, her eyes examined the balcony before her. From somewhere Evan had managed to find a blanket and lots of t-lights which were spread out in front of a bench which was covered in plates and bowls of food.

She turned her head so she could see Evan face and asked, "A picnic?"

His cheeks flushed slightly and he replied, "I wanted to do something nice."

"It's lovely," she told him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "How did you find this place?" she asked him as she moved over to the blanket.

"Routine exploration of the city," he told her. "I've been coming here in my spare time to paint."

"Does anybody else know about it?" she wanted to know.

"Only Lieutenant Connor," he replied. "We found it together but he didn't seem to be as interested as I did."

"Well, he hasn't got a girl to take on a picnic has he."

"I suppose not," Evan said moving to sit next to her on the blanket. "Would you like a drink?"

"Sure, what have you got?" Alex asked.

Evan pulled an ice bucket and two glasses out from under the bench and handed her the bottle that had been chilling.

"This is actual wine," she said in amazement. "Honest to god, real wine. Where did you get it?" she wanted to know.

"I happen to know a guy," he replied.

"You know a guy," she said dryly.

"And he spends most of his allotted space on Daedalus shipping wine out here for his own enjoyment."

"And you managed to get him to give up one of his precious bottles of wine by?"

"Ah, now that I can't tell you," he said as he poured them both a glass.

He passed her one of the glasses and she clinked them together before taking a sip. "Mmm," she moaned. "That is nice wine."

"Would you like some food?" he asked and Alex's eyes widened as she looked over the dishes spread out before them.


	5. Naughty

Disclaimer: Really wish it was mine, but I think the phrase "in my dreams" pretty much sums it up.

AN: Okay, this is the bit which earns its rating. If you don't like that kind of stuff, you're not missing much, it's mainly fluff, so you can skip it and move on.

Two hours later the sun had nearly set, leaving the sky dusky pink on the horizon and black overhead. A little while earlier Alex had started to get cold having taken her boots off to make herself more comfortable, so Evan had gathered up the blanket and wrapped them both in it, her leaning against his chest as they talked.

Now, comfy inside her blanket and soothed by the vibrations from Evans chest when he talked, Alex had to wonder if she'd ever been this happy before. "Do you know any constellations?" she asked.

"A few, but they're from back home," he told her.

"Maybe we should make some new ones," she suggested, pulling one arm out of the blanket to point to a cluster of stars almost directly above them. "See those four stars there and the three that create a sort of semi-circle with them? They remind me of a toaster."

"A toaster?" Evan asked, laughing slightly.

"Yeah, it's like one my gran used to have when I was a kid."

Evan pulled one hand out of the blanket and pointed to a cluster of stars on the northern horizon. "Those ones right there, they look like a hedgehog."

"The Sonic cluster?" she suggested.

"Maybe the Sheppard," Evan said.

"You mean after our brave and fearless military leader?" Alex asked.

Evan shrugged. "If I hadn't seen the guy roll out of bed in the morning with his hair looking exactly the way it does normally I'd say he spends hours in front of a mirror trying to get it right."

"Lucky git," Alex commented. "I wish my hair would behave."

"I like your hair," Evan told her.

"Really?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yes. It's all soft and pretty. I liked it when it was blonde as well."

"You like my hair," she said, turning her head slightly to face him.

"Is it so hard to believe?" he wanted to know.

"Maybe," she replied quietly, her eyes suddenly fixed on Evans face. His eyes, his lips…

Extending her head slightly, Alex kissed the corner of Evans mouth lightly. He turned his head and met her second kiss halfway, savouring the experience. That morning before they'd left, Kara had given him an ear bashing on what she'd seen the night before. While Evan didn't normally like being dressed down by a member of his team, it had made him realise that whatever this was they had together, he wanted to take it slowly. He really wasn't sure what would have happened if Kara hadn't interrupted them the night before, but he had an inkling that it wouldn't have stopped at kissing and touching.

So, as he'd planned their night, he'd made himself promise not to do anything on their first official date. He was going to be a perfect gentleman and walk her home and kiss her goodnight and that was it, he decided.

However, as Alex moved to straddle his hips and their kisses became more fuelled and passionate, that plan seemed to fly out of the window. What was it about this woman this drove all his common sense away?

Alex wasn't sure if they should be doing this, but damn it, it felt so right. Being here, kissing Evan, touching each other, wanting more. After Kara had spoken to her last night and then again in the control room, Alex had decided that she was going to take it slowly. But god damn if it just felt too good.

She felt one of Evans hands on her back, pulling her closer as she ground her hips into his, feeling him harden beneath her. The other hand was tangled in her hair, holding her head close to his as they kissed. Her hands seemed to have a life of their own as they roamed over his shirt, feeling the smooth muscles of his chest and arms before moving to the buttons and starting to undo them one by one until she could push the shirt open. Breaking the kiss she moved her mouth down his neck and along his collar, hands kneading the muscles of his chest.

Alex was driving Evan crazy with the kisses she was laying on his neck and collar. As she started to nip and pull at the skin with her teeth his hands went behind her neck and loosened the tie that was holding the top of her dress up. It practically fell apart in his hands and he let the material fall to her waist, leaving her breasts exposed to him.

She felt the cold only for a moment on her chest before Evan latched on to one of her breasts with his mouth, his hand playing with the other, caressing the sensitive nipple and sending ripples of pleasure running through her. She arched her back shamelessly, wanting more contact with Evan. He switched breasts, causing her to moan and arch further into his touch.

Trying to regain some control over the situation, Alex reached down between them and undid Evans belt and jeans, pulling them and his boxers down just enough to free his erection. Her small hands glided over the smooth, hot skin causing Evan to groan and lose track what he was doing.

"Please Evan," Alex whispered. "I need you."

That was all it took for Evan to roll them so Alex was laid out on the floor, Evan propped up on his elbows between her thighs and start kissing her again. Transferring all his weight to one side, his free hand now roamed down between them, pushing Alex's dress further up her thighs and lightly brushing over her panties. Pushing them to one side, he slipped one finger inside her, feeling how wet she was for him.

She gasped and bucked her hips as she felt Evan touching her, one finger inside her while his thumb brushed her clit, causing desire and longing to well up inside her. "Oh god," she moaned and then almost whimpered as Evan removed his hand from her and positioned himself at her entrance. "Please, god, I need you Evan. Please," she begged, not caring how she sounded.

One swift motion and he was inside her, and it was all Evan could do to stop himself from driving into her over and over. She was so tight and warm around him, he was sure he was in heaven right then.

It had been so long since Alex had been with someone; she thought she was going to start crying it felt so good. He started to pull out of her slowly and Alex felt herself wrap her legs around his hips, urging him to go faster and deeper. He refused though she could see from the look of concentration on his face that it was taking everything he had.

"Evan, please," she said in his ear.

"So good," he mumbled back, still trying to control his actions and take it slow.

"Please Evan, I need more. Faster please," she said.

It took a moment for those words to filter past Evan lust filled brain, but once they entered he looked at her and saw his own desires reflected in her eyes. It was all he needed to start pushing into her faster and harder, her legs urging him on and her hips meeting every thrust with one of her own.

Alex could feel the pressure building and arched into the contact between their bodies, her head falling backwards as she moaned. Reaching forward, she grabbed Evans head and pulled him in for a blistering kiss, causing their upper bodies to meet.

Evan groaned as he felt Alex's breasts pressed against his chest and tried to hold on for as long as possible, trying to fix all of it, the way she looked and felt and they way she was responding to him, in his memory for later. She arched again and Evan felt muscles clench around him as Alex came. He let himself go with her, revelling in the sensation.

Alex saw stars as she felt her toes curl and her orgasm ripped through her, leaving her feeling boneless and weak. She tried to get her breathing under control as Evan leaned down and kissed her slowly and sweetly.

"Wow," she managed to say when they broke the kiss, grinning up at Evan.

"I think I have to agree," he said, moving his head to one side so he could access her neck and collar bone, leaving light kisses on her skin.

"Keep that up and we won't be leaving here any time soon," she teased.

"Would that be so bad?" he asked playfully.

"No, but doing this in a real bed would be pretty nice to."

"Did I hurt you?" Evan asked, suddenly getting worried. He'd tried to take it slowly but she'd said she wanted more and after that…

"I'm fine," she said laying a finger over his lips to stop him from talking. "I wanted it like that, remember? I'm not going to break," she reassured him. "I just meant that maybe next time we should be in a locked room before we rip each others clothes off."

Evan grinned and bent down to kiss her again, "Now that sounds like a good idea,"

Half an hour later, after some more kissing, Evan lead Alex back to her room. They'd fixed their clothes before they'd left the balcony, but Alex's hair was still mussed and Evan was starting to develop a hicky which was just visible under the collar of his shirt. Once they were stood in front of her door, Alex leaned up and kissed Evan on the corner of the mouth again.

"I'd invite you in," she said, "but I think we both know what would happen if I did that. And we both have an early start in the morning as well."

"I guess I should say goodnight then," Evan said leaning down to kiss Alex again, one hand on her hip and another behind her head, pulling her closer to him.

Alex responded in kind until air started to become an issue, at which point she pushed gently on Evan shoulder, taking a step away from him. "Goodnight Evan," she said, activating the door so she could step into her room.

"Goodnight," he replied, standing and looking at her until the doors closed and he could no longer see her.

Alex spun on the spot, barely controlling the urge to jump up and down while grinning like a lunatic. She settled on smiling and moving to sort out the rest of her clothes that were still piled on the bed from earlier.


	6. Conversations

Disclaimer: Still not mine sigh

Kara tapped her foot impatiently as she leaned against a wall outside the mess hall, waiting almost patiently for Alex to arrive. For the past four months they had met for breakfast every Thursday, no matter what freaky alien, mutated virus or general catastrophe was threatening the city and its inhabitants. Today, Alex was ten minutes late, not something that normally happened. If anything, Alex was normally early and it was Kara who showed up out of breath and apologising.

Kara finally gave up and tapped her ear piece. "Hopkins to Owen," she said, expecting to hear Alex's chipper voice reply almost instantly. When it didn't she tried again, "Alex this is Kara, where are you?"

After three further attempts to contact her friend, Kara gave in. Pushing off the wall she made her way to the nearest transporter and made her way to the floor that housed all the female scientists. She tried the bell before finally just using her gene to open the door to her friend's room.

"Alex," she called as she entered the dark room. "Alex, are you still in here?"

A groan came from the general direction of the bed. "Kara?" she heard her friend ask sleepily.

Concentrating for a moment, Kara switched on the lights half way, giving her enough light to see by but no so much as to blind her sleepy friend. "Alex, are you alright?" she asked coming to perch on the side of her friend's bed.

"Hmm?" she asked, rolling over to face Kara and cracking her eyes open a tiny bit. "Oh Kara, Hey is everything okay?"

"We were supposed to meet for breakfast twenty minutes ago." she told her friend.

"Really?" Alex asked. "It can't be seven already, my alarm would have woken me up."

Just then, her alarm started to beep. Alex shut off the noise and looked in disbelief at the clock and groaned. "I'm so sorry Kara; I must have forgotten to change it last night."

"That's okay," Kara told her. "I'm just glad that when I came in it was only you in here and not you _and_ Lorne."

Alex blushed slightly as she remembered her date the night before. Kara saw it and frowned slightly.

"Why are you blushing?" Kara wanted to know. Suddenly something dawned on her. "Is he supposed to be here? Did you two have sex last night?"

Alex smiled and replied, "No, he's not supposed to be here. He walked me home last night and left me with a goodnight kiss at the door."

"So you didn't have sex," Kara wanted her to confirm.

Alex looked everywhere but Kara. "So you didn't have sex right?" Kara said turning her last statement into a question.

Alex seemed to struggle for words. "Well…not here no,"

Kara's mouth dropped open as she tried to comprehend exactly what the hell that comment meant. "You mean you…you and Lorne…you had sex?" she finally managed to choke out.

"Look, it's not as bad as you think," Alex tried to tell her friend, but Kara was having none of it.

She got up from the bed and pointed at her friend. "Just, give me a minute to think this through," she told her friend and then cringed at the idea. "What do you want for breakfast?" she asked suddenly, confusing Alex.

"What?"

"I'm going to the mess hall to get us both some breakfast while you get dressed and sort yourself out. When I get back, we're going to talk this through. Unless you want to go and discuss your sex life in front of thirty or so marines," she suggested.

"Um, some toast would be good and an apple if they have any," Alex said.

"I'll be back in ten minutes," Kara told her, heading out of the door.

"You look happy this morning Major," Sheppard commented as he sat beside Lorne in the mess hall.

"Really sir?" Lorne asked.

"Yes you do," Sheppard told him, pausing to eat a spoonful of cereal from the bowl in front of him. "Does this have anything to do with why you practically ran out of the jumper bay yesterday, leaving me the task of trying to explain to your new team member why she can't visit Keras' people every week for social calls."

"Sorry about that sir," Lorne apologised, knowing just how difficult Kara could be when she decided that something was a good idea, even when all the evidence showed that it was a spectacularly bad one.

"You didn't answer my question Major," Sheppard pointed out.

"Umm, well…I suppose you could link the two together, yes sir."

"Does it also have anything to do with that I overheard Chuck and Doctor Owens talking about you yesterday after you returned from M7G-677?"

"They were talking about me?" Lorne asked before he could stop himself.

"Yes major, they were," Sheppard ate another spoonful of his cereal as he watched his XO's face move from curiosity to happiness and finally returning to its normal slightly amused state. "Do you want to know what they were saying?" Sheppard asked, eating more of his cereal as he waited for Lorne to respond.

"I'm not sure that would be fair Colonel," Lorne eventually said, the internal struggle between wanting to know what Alex had said about him and not wanting the whole of Atlantis to know they were involved just yet barely registering on his face. "I mean, I assume that it was a private conversation that you overheard, so it would really be right to tell me what they had said."

"Seeing as it was a private conversation," Sheppard added.

"Yes sir," Lorne said, paying more and more attention to his plate that to his CO.

"Well, I hope for your sake that you know what you're doing," Sheppard said as he finished his cereal and collected his tray from the table, Lorne a few beats behind him as they both made their way to the kitchens.

"Sir?" Lorne asked, trying to play dumb to the fact that Sheppard probably knew everything that Chuck did, and that was probably almost everything there was to know.

As they handed over their plates, a flash of red caught Lorne's eye and he turned to see Kara walking towards the door of the mess hall, tray in hand. He frowned, weren't Kara and Alex supposed to have breakfast on Thursdays?

"Kara," he called, walking fast towards the door to catch up with her.

They were in the hall before Lorne got close enough to grab her arm to get her attention. Kara spun, face looking like thunder. Lorne instantly let go of her arm and back up a few steps, not realising that Sheppard had followed them out of the mess and was watching them with interest.

"Are you okay?" Lorne asked her, concerned as to why she was so angry at him.

Kara's face showed a number of emotions, anger and frustration being the most common before she pointed at him and said, "I'm going to deal with you later," and tried to spin away, but Lorne caught hold of her arm before she could move far.

"Why, what's going on?" Lorne asked.

"I…" Kara hesitated before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I'm going to deal with you later," she told him again and stalked off towards the transporter.

"Doesn't she normally have breakfast with Doctor Owens on a Thursday?" Sheppard asked.

Lorne hadn't realised that his CO knew so much about the meeting schedules of the people on the base. "Normally," Lorne told him. "She also normally likes me."

"Do anything recently to upset her?" Sheppard asked.

Lorne didn't think he'd said or done anything specific and then his mind started to add things up. If Alex hadn't show for their meeting that morning, Kara would have gone looking for her, and that meant that she'd started asking questions about last night and…

"Fuck," Lorne muttered.

"I'll take that as a maybe," Sheppard said, patting his XO on the back before walking past him into the transporter. "I'll see you at training this afternoon," he called as he stepped into the transporter.

Lorne waited until Sheppard had gone before tapping his radio, "Lorne to Owens."

"_Hey_," came back the sleepy but chirpy reply.

"Are you okay Alex?" he asked, wanting to be sure that she was fine before he did anything else.

"_I'm fine, why do you ask?"_

"I just ran into Kara in the mess hall and she looks furious. I thought maybe…" he trailed off.

"_Maybe I was changing my mind about last night?"_ she asked.

"Yeah," he told her, heading into the transporter and selecting the site closest to his office.

"_I'm fine Evan. I have no regrets about what happened last night_," she told him.

"Good, me neither," he reassured her.

"_I better go, Kara looked pretty pissed when she left to get us breakfast, she probably doesn't need to know that we're talking now_,"

"I'll see you later," he told her.

"_I hope so_," she replied before cutting the transmission.

Once they'd finished the food Kara had brought for them, Alex looked at her watch and stood up. "I need to get moving if I'm going to get to the gateroom in time for my shift."

"Sit," Kara told her.

"Kara, I need to get going," Alex told her, not wanting to be late.

"Is there anything pressing that needs to be done?" Kara asked her.

"No, but I should be there in case something does come up."

"Hopkins to Carter," Kara said, activating her ear piece.

"_Carter here,"_ was the reply.

"Hey Colonel, Dr Owens isn't going to be able to make it up to the control room today, is it okay if she stays and does her work in her quarters instead?" Kara asked.

"_Sure," _Carter replied. _"I'll call her if anything urgent comes up_," Carter told her before ending the transmission.

"See, now you won't be late," Kara told her. "Now sit and spill missy," she commanded.

Alex sat with a sigh. "What do you want to know?"

"Did you have sex last night?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Kara asked.

"Because we wanted to," Alex told her friend, not quite sure if she was totally okay with this conversation.

"That's not a reason to have sex," Kara almost yelled.

"Funny, I thought it was the main reason people have sex," Alex replied.

"Yes, but you told me you'd take it slow with Lorne," Kara said.

"And that was the plan," Alex reminded her. "I just…I mean we…It just felt right," she settled on.

"I know you Alex. You don't jump into bed with just anyone."

"I know I don't, but this felt right," she told her friend. "More right than with anyone else,"

"Even Doug?" Kara asked, mentioning the man that Alex had left to come to Atlantis.

"Even Doug," she reaffirmed. "I don't know why it feels so right, but it does. He makes me feel so different to all the other guys I've been with. It's like he wants me. All of me, not just the sex or the talking or the friendship, all of it."

"But why couldn't you take it slow?" Kara whimpered.

"Why did you sleep with Paul even though he was your CO?" Alex asked.

"Because…I don't know, but that's completely different," Kara dismissed.

"No, it's not," Alex said. "Sometime we do things that don't make any sense. Things we know we shouldn't do but we do them anyway because we _have_ to."

"But you should be taking it slow," Kara insisted. They'd talked a lot over the months they'd known each other and Kara knew that Alex's experience with men was limited. Between work, studying and the US military, Alex had managed to find a few men that thought that they could deal with her life, but eventually they'd all fallen away in the face of unreasonable requests and unanswered questions.

"I know I should, but I can't," Alex tried to explain.

"And what happens if you get hurt because things went to fast?"

"Do you really think that Evan would hurt me?" Alex asked her friend.

Kara sighed. "No, he wouldn't."

"I'm sorry," Alex said. "I know this isn't want you wanted-"

"But it's what you want," Kara cut it.

Alex grabbed hold of her friend's hands and squeezed them, trying to convey the fact that everything was okay, at least for the moment. "If it all goes wrong, I'll let you say I told you so," she said smiling.

"I don't really have a choice do I," Kara realised.

"Not really," Alex replied.

Kara sighed again and moved to hug her friends. "Fine, you can make it up to me by telling me all about last night."

"All about it," Alex giggled.

"You can leave out the sex," Kara told her. "I don't need to know about that,"

"Fine, He took me to somewhere over on the east side of the city…"

At 1600, Kara entered the training room they used for practising hand to hand combat. She wondered over to Sheppard who was leaning casually against the far wall, surveying the room.

"I just came from Lorne's office," she told him. "He's got piles of paperwork to do so he asked me to tell you that he won't be able to make it today."

Sheppard raised one eyebrow slightly before asking, "Think you can handle his marines today Captain?"

"I'll do my best, sir," she replied.

"Good, it can be a test run, see if you're any good at giving orders and getting people to follow them."

Kara bit her tongue trying not to reply to Sheppard's comment. In her head, it had just sounded dirty and she wanted to tell him that she was very good at getting people to follow orders, but stopped herself when she realised that things she may say to Lorne probably weren't suitable to say to Sheppard while in a room full of marines.

"Something to add, Captain?" Sheppard asked as he saw her struggle with something internally.

"No sir," she said, moving to the marines that Lorne normally worked with.

Sheppard watched her go with interest. He'd been watching her closely since he'd allowed her to transfer from the Apollo. As much as he hated to admit it, Lorne had been right. So far she'd been an asset to Lorne's team, and had kept all her comments inappropriate rather than insubordinate. Having said that, she was still puzzling him.

She'd been quite happy to forgo any sense of proprietary with Lorne earlier when he'd watched them talk outside the mess hall and three days ago in storage area B, but with him she still held back. He knew exactly what his comment would have sounded like to her, but she'd restrained herself from saying something she knew might get herself into trouble. He wondered how far he could push her before she would snap as he heard her call to her marines, "Alright boys, party time over."

Lorne was just finishing the last of his paperwork when the door to his office chimed. Groaning slightly, and wondering what the hell was wrong this time, he told the city to open the doors. He'd expected Zelenka or McKay telling him that they needed him to test some new device they'd found, or maybe one of the other civilians complaining about something or other that he would have to try his best to fix, or even Kara still looking pissed off, coming for the talk that he knew was inevitable.

What he did see was Alex leaning against the door frame, smiling at him.

"Hey," he said, smiling before he could catch himself.

"Hey," she replied, stepping in to his office and letting the doors close behind her. "So this is where you've been hiding."

"I've not been hiding," he told her. "I've been buried in paperwork all day."

"Nearly finished?" she asked him, walking over to his desk.

"Last form," he told her, holding up the folder he'd just finished with.

"Good," she said, running her fingers along the edge of his desk as she walked around to where he was sat.

"Not good," he told her. "I have training with Sheppard and the marines," he said trying to get up.

She pushed him back down. "No you don't. Kara's covering for you," she told him as she hopped up onto the desk so she was facing him.

"She is?" he asked, slightly stunned.

"Uh huh."

"So, she approves of this?" he asked, sliding closer to his desk and placing his hands on her thighs, his thumb rubbing small circles over the jeans that she was wearing.

"More understands than approves," Alex said, leaning down to capture his lips.

"Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?" he asked.

"I got the day off," she said. "And I was starting to get lonely in my room all by myself."

Evan moaned as her finger moved lightly over the skin of his neck, finally coming to rest on his shoulder, pulling him closer. "God," he said breathlessly. "I want this, but I'm not sure this is the right place to be doing it."

Alex groaned. "You're right," she agreed. "Why is it every time I get within five feet of you, all I want to do is have sex?"

"Could it be that I happen to be very good at having sex?" Evan asked, hands still on her thighs.

"That is a very cocky attitude Major," Alex admonished.

"I think I can give you proof to back it up," Evan whispered.

"I'm sure you can," Alex said. "But that wasn't why I came."

"Then why are you here?" Evan asked.

"I wanted to talk," she told him. "You know, get to know each other better."

"Isn't that what dating is for?"

"Yes, but I get the feeling that dating in the normal sense of the word is probably not really possible on Atlantis," Alex replied.

"I suppose you're right," Evan said. "So, what do you want to know?"

"I'm not sure. Anything you want to tell me."

"How about we talk about our families," Evan suggested, pulling Alex off his desk and onto his lap, holding her close to him.

"I think I could deal with that," Alex said.


	7. End of the beginning

Disclaimer: Not mine.

A week after their first date, Evan and his team were leaving for another mission. After the day in Evan's office, and then the night in Evan's bedroom, he and Alex had been spending almost all of their free time together. The only exception had been girl's poker night, Evan's team movie night and a few meals with Kara in between.

As Chuck dialled the gate, Alex went to stand on the small balcony just off the control room to watch them leave. Evan looked back just before he stepped over the event horizon and winked at her. She winked back and watched as he and the rest of his team left.

"You look happy."

Alex looked up to see Carter stood next to her, watching her with interest.

"I am," she replied turning to face her boss and leaning on the railings. Even though there were no specific rules that said that Evan and Alex couldn't be together, they'd decided to try to be as discreet as possible. She really hoped that Carter didn't have a problem with their relationship, as she was probably the one person who could get them shipped back to Earth.

"Good," Carter told her. "I like it when my teams happy. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay," Alex said.

"I spent the first three year of my tour at the SGC hearing Daniel complain about how all the information he needed was scattered around the SGC, never in the right place, always being misplaced."

"I remember him telling me about it, but I'm not sure what this has to do with me," Alex told her.

"I'm getting there," Carter said. "I've found that a lot of the time you're running from one lab to another or trying to find information in the database to help you with your translations. I was wondering if you'd like an office. We could set up a computer terminal with direct access to the Ancient database for you, and you'd be closer to the labs should you need anything from them."

"Would I still be able to work up here?" Alex asked, not sure she was willing to give up the company that she had in the control room, even if she did get an office in return.

"When you wanted to. But I'm sure some peace and quiet would be nice every now and then rather than having to work in all this hustle and bustle or locking yourself in your room."

Alex smiled. "If it's not too much trouble, I'd quite like to have an office."

"I'll get someone on it right away," Carter said, leaving her to look back to the gate.

A new boyfriend and a new office all within the space of a week. Alex liked new things. Maybe this was all part of a new life for her, a new beginning.


End file.
